Experimental Investigation on Churning Power Loss of Splash Lubricated Worm Gear

Churning power losses are a complex phenomenon that produces critical power losses when considering the splash lubrication of gear units. This article describes the method to investigate the churning power loss in a worm gearbox. A particular test rig was designed and fabricated to experiment on single start worm gear incompletely submerged in an oil bath. The direct torque measurement technique was used to determine the churning power losses. Experiments have been conducted to determine the impact of a variety of operating conditions on churning power losses, including worm speeds, gear immersion depth, lubricant temperatures, and lubricant type (mineral and synthetic). It was found that the churning losses were significantly affected by the worm shaft orientation, speed of gear, and the depth of immersion (static head). The lubricant's temperature is more essential than the type of lubricant in terms of churning power loss.